Todd and I take turns each week setting the menu, grocery shopping, and cooking supper. We’ve been doing it this way since we first moved in together and I am continually grateful to has a husband that enjoys cooking as much as I do. Sometimes my menus are very specific (especially if I’m working on a new cookbook review) while other times they can be pretty vague: just stating the primary protein, starch, and vegetable for the meal. Keeping a good variety of spices and condiments on hand means I can improvise at will without needing to make a special trip to the grocery store.

Such was the case last weekend when I was making pork chops. Granted, we seldom buy the old-fashioned bone-in chops, usually it’s the leaner loin chops, and this day I’d actually picked up the thin cutlets instead. As I was seasoning them with salt and pepper I was reminded of a recent conversation with friends about Monte Cristo sandwiches–a rare indulgence back in the day, there’s just something about the sweet and savory combination of the meats and cheeses with the powdered sugar and the raspberry jam, not to mention the crunch of the fried outside with the melty goodness of the cheese inside. I love those sandwiches so much that I even devised a slimmed-down version of it for my own cookbook.

While I wasn’t tempted to break out the deep fryer for supper that night, I was tempted by the flavor combination, so while the cutlets sizzled in the pan, I grabbed some grainy mustard, some strawberry preserves, and some Sargento Ultra Thin Swiss that I’d recently picked up with the coupon in my recent VoxBox from Influenster.

Pork Cutlets Cristo

serves 4

8 pork loin cutlets (approx. 1 lb)
kosher salt, black pepper
garlic-infused olive oil
2 Tbsp grainy mustard
2 Tbsp strawberry preserves
4 slices Swiss cheese (like Sargento UltraThin), sliced in half for 8 pieces

Season cutlets with salt and pepper. Drizzle olive oil into a hot frying pan large enough to accommodate all 8 cutlets.

Brown each side of the cutlets over medium-high heat, arranging the cutlets in a way that leaves the center of the pan open.

Add the mustard and the preserves to the center of the frying pan and stir together with the remaining olive oil and resulting pan juices. Top each cutlet with a half-slice of Swiss cheese and wait only long enough until it melts (should be quick) before moving two cutlets (one serving) to a place.

Spoon a bit of the strawberry-mustard pan sauce over the top of each cutlet.

 

I served the cutlets with a quick creamed spinach (frozen spinach cooked with a bit of butter, a bit of 2% milk, a generous handful of grated Parmesan cheese, and thickened with an arrowroot slurry) and it made for a nice and light Sunday supper. Sure, it’s not the decadence of a true Monte Cristo sandwich. To bring it closer a toasted crouton (the larger kind of French cuisine, not the smaller ones that top your salad) underneath the cutlets would be a tasty addition, and also soak up some of those pan juices, as well.

I received these products complimentary from Influenster for testing purposes.